Food and Drink Policy

Caversham Nursery regards mealtimes an important part of the nursery day.

Eating represents a social time for children, babies and adults; this is a time to share their day, their feelings and ideas and a time to learn about food and healthy eating.

Methods

Before the child starts at Caversham Nursery we will find out from the parents/carer what the child’s dietary requirements are including any allergies or intolerances.

We record the information on the child’s records which the parents/carer sign to signify that it is correct.

We regularly consult with parents/carer to ensure that our records are up to date.

We display any dietary requirements, allergies or intolerances on the dietary form which is located in the childcare rooms and in the kitchen in the cupboards.

The menu for the week will be displayed so everyone knows what we are having.

We use Chartwells catering for the children’s lunch and tea menus which are cooked on site.

Chartwells Catering will probe the food in the kitchen for the temperature

If a child has a dietary requirement, an allergy or intolerance Chartwells Catering try to make their meal look the same as everyone else so not to make the child feel singled out. A doctors letter will be required before any special meals can be made. (this is a requirement from Chartwells).

We organise the mealtime so the children are in a family style dining setting. To encourage independence the children will serve themselves food and drink using the appropriate utensils (with support when required).

We have fresh water constantly available for all the children. In the over two’s room they can help themselves to their water bottles throughout the nursery day and the under two’s room have fresh water or cooled boiled water available in a training cup or bottle.

The children who come in the early morning between 8am and 8.45am can have breakfast at nursery this will consist of cereal as well as milk or water to drink.

Parents are asked to provide formula milk in a sealed container when required for the babies . The nursery will provide full fat pasteurised milk for all the other children under two year and semi skimmed for over two year olds.

The nursery will provide easy to name labels for each of the babies bottles so the bottles are labelled so everyone can see which bottle belongs to which baby.

If Parent’s/Carers chose to bring their own bottles, the nursery staff will wash out the bottle and put them in the child’s nursery bag but these bottles will not be sterilised. This will be explained to the parents/carer so they know that they need to wash the bottles at the end of the day at nursery.

Each baby has its own daily diary which the staff will write down what the baby has eaten, how often and how much of their bottle they have had. This is a way to record what the baby is eating and can be used to look back to see what they have had if a problem were to occur.

Staff use a bottle feeding chart to record what time they had their bottle. On each fridge there is a weekly temperature reading chart to check the fridge is at the correct temperature. The maximum temperature of chilled food is 8c,

refrigerators should operate at 5c or below. Freezers should operate at -18c or below.

Healthy Snacks

Snacks provided are free from sugars that can damage teeth and low in salt.

Fruit and vegetables are encouraged (dried fruit will not generally be served as a snack item).

Water and milk are safe for teeth and therefore the only drinks on offer.

All children over 1 year old will be encouraged to drink from a cup.

The dietary needs of religious groups and vegetarians/vegans are respected.

Parents/carers who wish to provide food for birthdays are requested to provide fresh fruit rather than cakes/sweets.